Roundups

Media

20-26 May Islam in Media Roundup

Maydan Editors

The Maydan is an online publication of the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University. The Maydan team is composed of the Center's faculty members and graduate students both within and outside GMU.

Yemen's Houthis deny targeting Mecca with ballistic missiles

Reuters

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea denied Saudi media reports on Monday that his militia had fired a ballistic missile toward Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, at a time of heightened tensions between Tehran and Gulf Arab states allied to Washington.Read More

Iraqi Shiite figures warn US-Iran war could ‘burn’ Iraq

AP News

Iraqi Shiite leaders warned Monday against attempts to pull their country into a war between the U.S. and Iran, saying it would turn Iraq into a battlefield yet again, just as it is on the path to recovery.Read More

The British Victorians who became Muslims

BBC News

At the height of the British Empire, a few brave pioneer converts embraced Islam in defiance of Victorian norms at a time when Christianity was the bedrock of British identity.Read More

Ramadan becomes a struggle in cyclone-hit northern Mozambique

Aljazeera

Muslims spend Ramadan trying to rebuild their lives in the midst of food shortage and heavily damaged mosques.Read More

'No social backlash to anyone that holds Islamophobic views'

Aljazeera

French activists and academics say Islamophobia starts with the state and it’s not been treated seriously.Read More

Ramadan: how a new generation of British Muslims are becoming more green

The Conversation

Muslims worldwide are about to enter the second half of Ramadan. However, growing concerns around the environmental crisis and social struggles across the globe have to lead them to consider its deeper meaning.Read More

In an Indian village, Muslims talk of leaving as divide with Hindus widens

Reuters

Muslims are reflecting on the seemingly far off time when their children played with Hindu kids, and people from both faiths chatted when they frequented each other’s shops and went to festivals together.Read More

Muslim Lawmakers Host Ramadan Feast At Capitol

NPR

In speeches from the podium and in conversations over ice-cream sundaes, guests at an iftar in the Capitol repeated two main themes: pride in having their faith reflected in Congress and dismay at the ferocity of the criticism leveled at the Muslim representatives.Read More

Saudi Arabia to execute three prominent moderate scholars after Ramadan

Middle East Eye

Salman al-Ouda and two other prominent Saudi scholars, convicted on multiple charges of “terrorism” will be sentenced to death and executed shortly after Ramadan, according to two government sources and one of the men’s relatives.Read More

What happened when I met my Islamophobic troll

The Guardian

A Muslim man recalls the time when he began getting regular messages from an anonymous Twitter user telling him that his religion was ‘evil’. Which led him to break his silence then later led to a face to face meeting.Read More

Indonesia frees ethnic Chinese woman jailed for blasphemy

Aljazeera

An Indonesian woman who belongs to the ethnic Chinese minority, sentenced to 18 months in prison last year on blasphemy charges, has been released on parole.Read More

China’s Orwellian War on Religion

The New York Times

At times under Communist Party rule, repression of faith has eased, but now it is unmistakably worsening. China is engaging in internment, monitoring or persecution of Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists on a scale almost unparalleled by a major nation in three-quarters of a century.Read More

Focusing on faith: Ramadan and the student-athlete

Daily Record

For student-athletes, Ramadan brings unique challenges. While abstaining from food and drink from dawn to dusk, they must maintain the same level of focus on both academics and sports.Read More

Arab states waste heaps of food during Ramadan

The Economist

Arab states waste a lot of food. A 2016 study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that Saudi Arabia bins 427 kg per person annually, triple the average in Europe and North America.Read More

A week after an arson attack left the imposing Diyanet Mosque of New Haven, CT uninhabitable, nearly three dozen members of this Muslim community gathered in front of the building for what should have been a familiar Ramadan ritual — a community iftar, or the breaking of the day’s fast.Read More

The UN comically subverts 'the fast life' in glitzy Ramadan campaign

The Drum

The United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) has launched a digital campaign for ShareTheMeal – its mobile fundraising app – to engage Muslim audiences this Ramadan. Read More

More Than 500 Attacks on Muslims in America This Year

Daily Beast

Mosques in California, Connecticut, and Queens have been the targets of arson and graffiti, including an act by an alleged synagogue shooter that foreshadowed his rampage.Read More

Malaysian officials are disguising themselves as cooks and waiters to catch Muslims who don’t fast during Ramadan, prompting a rights group on Thursday to blast the campaign as a”disgraceful act of spying”.Read More

An Israeli army brigade stationed in the Palestinian city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank released a video on Thursday wishing Muslims a Happy Ramadan.Read More

Reps. Tlaib and Omar challenge the trope of modest Muslim women

The Washington Post

The two embattled Muslim Congresswomen are “refusing to play by mainstream rules” and breaking barriers. Their outspoken views, “appalling and toxic to many, novel to others,” were not aired openly before, and are opening important new debates.Read More

Islamophobia helps jihadists recruit, says UK playwright

Reuters

Young Muslims face rising racism and Islamophobia that leaves them more vulnerable to radicalization, according to the author of a new play about a teenage girl recruited by Islamic State.Read More

Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has returned an honorary degree awarded by Oxford University after a global backlash led by celebrities including George Clooney and Elton John against his country’s new harsh stance on sexual “crimes”.Read More

The history of China’s Muslims and what’s behind their persecution

The Conversation

Uighur leaders and experts located outside China have warned that the situation could worsen, and “mass murder” could not be ruled out. With upwards of ten percent of the Uighurs being held against their will, in what is being called the worst and the most neglected humanitarian crisis of the past in over a decade.Read More

China’s alarming AI surveillance of Muslims should wake us up

The Washington Post

Tight control of civilian populations is the cardinal rule of authoritarian regimes, yet the sheer scale and complexity of those populations make control difficult. Now, artificial intelligence has made civilian surveillance far easier, and more invasive. AI is rapidly becoming the new best friend of dictators everywhere.Read More

Bomb in Afghan mosque kills senior cleric during Friday prayers

Reuters

A bomb exploded at a mosque in the Afghan capital, Kabul, during Friday prayers, officials said, killing three people including a senior preacher and wounding at least 20 men who had gathered for worship.Read More

Groups, mosques rally around Muslim foster children in Ramadan

Aljazeera

In a bid to preserve their identity, British Muslim children in foster care are being given gift packages with books, food, and decorations in celebration of Ramadan. The gift boxes are designed to “aid in understanding the needs of a Muslim foster child and increase the bonds between a foster child and their carer.” Read More

Maydan editors selected some of the most thought-provoking news items on issues around Islam, religion and public-life for you. Let us know what you have been reading. Drop us a line at mediaroundups@themaydan.com!